Christian Poetry

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Sometimes Life Is Good

Sometimes life is good. Sometimes life is bad. When I think of what could illustrate this truth,
I picture the sea, with the rise and fall of its waves.

Since time immemorial they have been rising and falling. Rushing up the near or distant
shores, and then back down again. And again. And again.

Then there are the tides...also rising and receding forever. They last for periods of time even
longer than the small advances and retreats of the waves.

So I would persuade you that the water is a representation of our circumstances, the state of
a human life or a family. Contemplate how easily the waves rise and fall: Fleeting, precious
moments of happiness or pain. Each one unique; that moment will never happen again.
Remember these, and treasure them.

Next let the high tides betoken times of plenty when our lives are full and fortune smiles on
us. We need to remember to cherish these times while they last, and even use them to
prepare for the times that we know will inevitably follow-- the low tides, the times of scarcity.

But what of landings? In their great journey the world over, the waters of the sea will also kiss
the land. You never know when. Life's waves will roll us up onto soft sandy beaches, like a
spring wedding for two lovers along the warm shore. Could bliss be more pure?

Or the waves can just as well dash us against the rocks in a fierce winter storm, innumerable
tons of indiscriminate, unforgiving power beating us against us in the black of night.
Relentlessly. Repeatedly against the stone. Grinding rock to sand.

Blessed, peaceful, perfect victory. Cursed, despairing, uncaring tragedy. Both or either can
happen more than once in a lifetime. It is devastating. And then it is glorious.

These incalculable and unavoidable landings--life events--form the defining moments of our
existence. In these, we are forced to decide what we are made of. We prove weak or
powerful; we show ourselves foolish or wise; we become monstrous or we grow more merciful.

Oh then, why must there be rocks? Why can't we on all days land on the a pristine white
shore of some lost beach in yet uncharted waters of Capricorn's tropic?

Might I suggest that were it not so, the sea would not be so beautifully perfect? Ageless,
truer-than-time, its waters and their motives ever abiding: an indisputable product of both the
painful and the delightsome. Never forget that without the rocks, there could never be sand.

So too the affairs of humankind. The Waves, the Tides, and the Landings.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

The Untamed Ocean

The oceans boundless depths,
Its blue and dancing billows,
Its might crested waves
Like giant feathery pillows,
Has not been tamed by man
Not taught to obey his will.
‘Tis still beyond his power,
All its menaces kill.

We may ride upon the waves,
Or in its depths cast our net;
We may see its waters splash
On our decks, all foamy wet;
We may cross to other climes
On its mighty dancing waves,
But the hand or eye of man
Cannot find its hidden caves.

Oh, vast ocean, in thy power
Thou dost glory, and reveal
That man is only man,
That on us, the stamp and seal
Of mortality doth rest,
Only God’s immortal will
Spoke unto the ocean wild,
Whispered calmly: “Peace be still.”

Written to daughters Wilma and Ardice, left behind in Michigan when she went to California with her husband and three other daughters; Alta, Avis, and Clova, and granddaughter Mary Helen (my Mother), Avis’ daughter

A little about me as per my profession:
I have been keeping aquariums since 1968, in 1977 I got a job in the fish department of a chain of pet stores, by 1978 I had started my aquarium & pond maintenance company.
From there I began many controlled experiments and research into what worked best in both methods & products for fish keeping.